Coronavirus outbreak: Positive cases of COVID-19 reaches 50 in seven northeast states

Guwahati, Apr 18: The total number of positive cases of coronavirus in the northeast's seven states has now increased to 50. The number of cases in these states began to increase after the detection of the first case in Manipur on March 24, when a 23-year-old student who had returned from the UK was found positive.

With 35 cases of COVID-19 in Assam, the state has the most number of coronavirus affected patients. Assam had its first case of coronavirus on March 31.

Apart from two cases from Guwahati and Nagaland, all other cases in Assam have links with the Tablighi Jamaat gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz in the national capital last month.

Last week, a 65-year-old COVID-19 positive patient died at the Silchar Medical College Hospital, making him Assam as well as the region's first fatality. It is reportedly said that nine patients who have recovered from the disease have been discharged from three different hospitals while 25 others are under treatment.

The reports further said that Manipur's first patient has recovered and been discharged from hospital. The other patient in the state who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event last month is still undergoing treatment in Imphal.

Mizoram was the second state in the region to record the novel coronavirus case with a 50-year-old pastor who had returned from the Netherlands testing positive. No other case has surfaced in the state this month.

In Tripura, the first positive case was a Tablighi Jamaat attendee followed by a 45-year-old woman who had visited Guwahati. The woman has been recovered while the first patient is still in the hospital.